


Riley's No Good Very Bad Day

by hybryd0



Series: Whump! [2]
Category: Power Rangers Dino Charge
Genre: Gen, Other, could be gen, could be open relationship, take it how you want, warning for a scene with a homophobic customer
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-29
Updated: 2016-03-29
Packaged: 2018-05-29 22:32:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,070
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6396676
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hybryd0/pseuds/hybryd0
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Riley has one of those days that everyone working in customer service dreads.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Riley's No Good Very Bad Day

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by [this post](http://hunterbradley.tumblr.com/post/141792392962/how-often-do-you-think-the-rangers-have-to-deal) and my eleven years of fast food hell. I could do a series of these with my experiences. This takes place after Home Run Koda so could also be considered a kinda fixit. Enjoy!

“Does this look like no tomato to you?”

Riley stared at disbelieving shock at the burger that had just been plopped right on the counter. The ketchup and mayo had splattered in a radius around it, some even speckling his work shirt. His mind was still trying to process that this was a thing that had actually just happened when he lifted his eyes to the angry customer. It was an older looking man with touches of gray in his hair and frown lines etched deeply in his face.

“I know you young punks have a hard time listening, so I’m going to say it again for you loudly enough that you shouldn’t have a problem,” the man went on. Riley was still stuck on the fact that there was a burger that had actually been dropped on the counter. No plate, no tray, just the burger. “I want a cheeseburger with mayo, ketchup, and lettuce with NO TOMATO! Did I say that loudly and clearly enough for you?”

Riley took a deep, calming breath, ignoring the twinge from his ribs from the kick the monster of the week had landed. “Yes sir. I’m sorry that your burger wasn’t made correctly the first time. If you want to please have a seat I’ll get that corrected for you.”

“I want to make sure we have an understanding,” the man said. “Repeat the order to me.”

“Is there a problem?”

Riley glanced over his shoulder to see that Tyler had stepped up behind him. Back in the kitchen area the other rangers were also watching. He felt his ears burn in embarrassment.

“I said, repeat my order,” the man said, ignoring Tyler completely.

“Cheeseburger with mayo, ketchup, and lettuce with no tomato,” Riley said as calmly as he could.

“Good,” the man sneered. He turned to go before turning back around. “And I want fresh bronto fries.”

“Of course, sir,” Riley said and turned away leaving Tyler to take over the register for the customer that had been waiting behind the man.

“Are you okay?” Shelby asked as Riley pushed through the doors into the kitchen.

“I’m fine,” Riley replied, shorter with her than he normally would have been. “Chase, can I get--.”

“I’m on it, mate,” Chase said, smiling kindly.

Riley gave a curt nod and willed his skin to stop burning. He turned around to go clean up the mess the burger had made on the counter, but found that Ivan wiping away the last of the ketchup. He gave Riley a very enthusiastic thumbs up and then moved on to wait on his own table.

Once Riley delivered the remade burger to the customer he went to wait on some new arrivals. He smiled when he recognized a couple that frequented the museum, and by extension the cafe. He learned in the first week that Erica was doing a paper on the medieval culture of Zandar, and they were the only museum that had artifacts from Zandar on display. Her girlfriend, Anna-Marie, was always more interested in the dinosaur exhibits, so they usually spent equal time at both.

“Hello ladies,” Riley greeted. “Do you want your usuals?”

“Just a my shake for me, please,” Erica said, stopping in the middle of whatever she was typing on her laptop to smile at Riley.

“I’ll have my usual,” Anna-Marie said.

Riley jotted the order down on his notepad. “I’ll have that right up for you.”

“Thanks Riley,” Anna-Marie said before both women turned their attention back to Erica’s laptop.

A little while later one of the busboys approached him. He looked apprehensive, biting his lip and shifting his eyes around. Riley felt his stomach turn.

“What’s up, Shawn?” Riley asked even though he felt like he wasn’t going to like the answer.

“There’s something you should see,” Shawn replied.

Riley followed Shawn and felt his stomach sink when he saw the table they were approaching. It was grumpy Mr. NO-TOMATO’s table. When he saw what Shawn needed to show him he wasn’t sure if was more pissed off or disgusted. 

The man had pulled one of the nastiest tricks someone could pull against a waitstaff. He had put a menu over his cup and held it in place as he turned the cup over on the table and then slid the menu out from under it. The intention was to make it hard to clean up without making a mess.

Riley sighed and rubbed a hand over his face. “I’ll take care of this. Go ahead and clean another table.”

As Shawn walked away, Riley stared at the cup trying to figure out the most logical way to take care of the disaster waiting to happen. He could feel the beginning of a headache starting to form behind his eyes.

“Riley, here.” Shelby appeared beside him with a trashcan in hand. “Some jerk did this to me the first week I worked here. Just slide the cup over.”

Riley gave her a small smile. “Thanks Shelby.”

He slid the cup over slowly, careful not to tip it at all, and was relieved when it reached the edge of the table without spilling. As the liquid fell into the trash can, Riley saw that something else was under the cup. Lifting it away he found one penny. Growling softly he swept it into the trash can too.

A couple of hours passed by without too much incident. A group of kids his age had found it funny to use a quarter to bust the bottom of a salt shaker so it made a mess when he picked it up, but that wasn’t anything new. He served a couple of tables, got dessert for Erica and Anna-Marie, and took his break.

It was as he was coming back from break that trouble started up again. He had just finished tying up the back of his apron when a man approached him. The man looked angry and disgusted and Riley briefly wondered what he’d done to deserve this day.

“Young man, those two...women...are displaying inappropriate behavior where my grandchildren can see and I demand you ask them to leave,” the man said. Riley looked in the direction the man pointed. He was surprised to see it that the man meant Erica and Anna-Marie.

“Sir, they’re regulars and they’ve never caused problems before,” Riley replied. The salad in his stomach felt like stone; he had a feeling he knew where the conversation was going.

“One of them kissed the other, in public! That kind of deviant behavior should be kept in the bedroom where innocent eyes can’t see,” the man said. His voice rose as he spoke and by the end of it he was practically shouting. He had a menu in his hand that he waved around as he got angrier.

“Sir, they’re not doing anything wrong.”

By then the spectacle had the attention of the whole cafe and Riley could feel his friends’ eyes on him. Again.

“I am the customer and the customer is always right!”

The man punctuated his statement by slamming the menu against Riley’s chest. Unprepared for the move, Riley couldn’t bite back the noise he made at the sharp pain that flared from his sore ribs. That just made the whole situation worse as he hadn’t shared that he’d been injured in the fight.

What seemed like a second later, Koda was between the man and Riley, growling in the way he did when he was too angry to control his caveman instincts.

“Sir, I’m only going to ask you once to get off my property and then I’ll have you escorted,” Kendall said, even though Riley could swear she hadn’t been anywhere around him a second ago. Her statement was backed up by Chase and Tyler coming out of the kitchen. “You’ll be lucky if we don’t press charges for assault.”

Riley couldn’t see the man from behind Koda, but he could hear the outrage tinged with nervousness in his voice. “I’ll make sure everyone I know hears about the debauchery here.”

“Get. Out,” Koda growled.

Riley didn’t get to see the rest of the showdown as Shelby appeared at his side and took his arm and gently led him away. He didn’t protest as she walked him through the kitchen, past the backrooms and out the back door. He just didn’t have the energy left to protest anything.

“Why didn’t you tell us your were hurt in the fight?” Shelby asked once they were down in the base. She had him sit at the table and he immediately dropped his head onto it.

“I’m fine,” Riley said, voice muffled by the table.

“Uh huh, you wanna try that again?”

Riley sighed. “Look, it’s not that bad. It’s just some bruised ribs, hardly the worst I’ve dealt with.”

“You still should have told us,” Shelby said. She was doing that hands on her hips thing that always made Riley feel about five years younger.

“It would be illogical for us to stop and worry about every single minor injury,” Riley argued.

“I’ll be the one to decide on what’s a minor injury.”

Riley sighed and lifted his head to see Kendall and the rest of his friends enter the base. She looked entirely unimpressed. He dropped his head back onto the table with a groan.

“Come with me,” Kendall said in that voice that brooked absolutely no arguments.

There was no point in arguing with her so Riley stood up and followed her across the lab to the small infirmary. Kendall pulled the curtain closed to give him privacy, which he greatly appreciated. 

“Lift your shirt, please,” she said, picking up a scanner.

Riley did as he was told and closed his eyes at her startled noise. He felt the whisper of her almost touch and then the beeps of the scanner.

“Well, no broken ribs but those bruises are pretty serious,” Kendall said. He opened his eyes when he heard her take off her glasses and found her pinching the bridge of her nose. His stomach twisted with guilt at worrying her. “No more work for the rest of the week and no ranger duties.”

“But--.”

“No,” Kendall said sharply, looking up at him. “You’re on couch rest for the week and if you hide injuries again, if ANY of you do…”

“We got it Ms. Morgan,” Tyler called from somewhere around the curtain. Riley nodded, not all that eager to hear the end of that threat.

Kendall slid the curtain back and Riley saw that Shelby and Tyler were already sitting on the couch with a space between them. Koda was sitting on the floor and Ivan and Chase were both missing. He didn’t need anymore of an invitation to plop down in the space left for him, sighing as his overworked body finally got a rest.

“No fair starting the cuddling without me,” Chase said as he approached. He had a tray loaded down with goodies and as he set it down on the table in front of the couch Riley saw that all of it was Riley’s favorites.

Shelby got up without a word and moved around to sit on Tyler’s other side so that Chase could sit beside Riley. It was a calculated move since they all knew how weak Riley was for him when it came to actually letting someone take care of him. Having friends that knew him too well was sometimes a pain in the ass.

They started up a movie, something in the next line of whatever series they were showing Koda. He’d distanced himself after his touch with megalomania so he was a few weeks behind their movie nights. He’d honestly missed them too much.

Chase wrapped an arm around him and pulled him into his side. “Are you done punishing yourself now?”

“I wasn’t--.”

“You were, but I understand,” Chase said. “It’s time to stop now though, yeah?”

Considering how he’d behaved Riley wasn’t quite sure about that, but he also trusted Chase’s brand of wisdom. He let the weight of how he’d acted fall off his shoulders and cuddled into Chase’s side and for the rest of the night he let the others take care of him like he normally wouldn’t. He eventually fell asleep to Koda and Ivan curled up together at his feet and Chase snoring softly in his ear.

**Author's Note:**

> come say hi on [tumblr](http://multishippinfool.tumblr.com)! I'd love some dino charge prompts


End file.
